Just days after prominent local medical professionals diagnosed the Beverly Hills town centre with terminal planning paralysis, Georges River Council voted 9-4 to retain control over the stalled Master Plan. But the lifeline designed to save the precinct wasn't severed by a straightforward democratic No vote - it was dismantled by a bureaucratic technicality.

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A move to formally request the NSW State Government to assume total precinct control of Beverly Hills has failed.

For nearly a decade, Beverly Hills has been entangled in red tape-from highly contested flood studies to prolonged hazard assessments for a repurposed natural gas pipeline. Hoping to cut through the bureaucracy, I introduced Notice of Motion NM029-26. The proposal sought to halt Council expenditure and formally request the NSW State Government to assume total precinct control, leveraging a $403.7 million State-Assessed Rezoning Proposal (SARP) already under active assessment along King Georges Road.

Rather than debating the merits of a state takeover and putting a direct Yes or No on the public record, the chamber navigated a highly unusual procedural path. During the debate, Councillor Nancy Liu moved an amendment reaffirming the Council's commitment to a council-led Master Plan, systematically striking out the operational targets of the original motion.

This manoeuvre immediately drew scrutiny regarding Clause 10.11 of the Georges River Council's mandatory Code of Meeting Practice. The clause explicitly dictates: An amendment to a motion must relate to the matter being dealt with in the original motion before the Council and must not be a direct negative of the original motion .

I raised a point of order, arguing that an amendment forcing the Council to retain the plan was the exact opposite - a direct negative - of a motion seeking to hand it over to the State.

If the majority wishes to maintain local control, they have the democratic right to vote down my motion. But manipulating the rules to overwrite my motion with a contradictory agenda strips an elected member of their fundamental right to introduce a specific policy for debate .

However, Mayor Elise Borg rejected the point of order, allowing the contradictory amendment to stand. A subsequent 'motion of dissent' moved against the Mayor's ruling was voted down by the governing majority, ensuring the state takeover was effectively erased without the need for a direct No vote on the original proposal.

The local community group, Revive Beverly Hills United (RBHU), whose executive includes local GPs Dr Ben Balzer, Dr George Han, and Dr Akaash Goyal, expressed deep dismay at the procedural move that kept the town centre in planning limbo.

If the majority of Councillors opposed State intervention, they had the numbers to simply vote the motion down.

With local avenues seemingly exhausted by red tape, community advocates are now looking beyond the council chambers. Advocates have initiated a formal petition to the NSW Minister for Planning and Public Spaces, Paul Scully, seeking urgent ministerial intervention under the Local Government Act 1993. The initiative requests that Beverly Hills be declared a project of State Significance, which would bypass local zoning control entirely.

For now, the neon strips of King Georges Road remain dim. The proposed cure was blocked by procedural maneuvers, and the future of Beverly Hills sits firmly on life support-trapped not just by a decade of planning paralysis, but by a council chamber that opted to keep the patient locked in the local ward.

Historic meeting of two cultures

Over some months I have been questioned by locals about the meeting of Indigenous people at Lime Kiln Bay on Georges River in 1788 prior to the establishment of the Colony at Sydney Cove on 26th January of that year.

Captain Arthur Phillip and Captain Philip Gidley King recorded events and observations during their time in the voyage to N.S.W. and their time here. Captain Gidley King arrived at the same time in Botany Bay as Captain Phillip and while waiting for the rest of the Fleet, went on an expedition to find an appropriate place for a settlement with drinking water as the Bay was mainly sand hills with little fresh water.

Captain Phillip and a party rowed along the southern side of Georges River and Gidley King rowed with a party along the northern side exploring the bays on that side. Many of the northern bays had huge middens of oyster shells from many feasts. When we look at Gidley King's description of the Bay where he landed and compare it with early maps, there can be little doubt that he had landed at a spot in Lime Kiln Bay with its two distinctive arms, one running through Peakhurst Golf Club up to Forest Rd and the other through the Lime Kiln Bay wetlands and up Dairy Creek to modern Mortdale. As the party landed the locals ran to stop them as they had not sought approval to enter their land. Gidley King then withdrew and reported to Captain Phillip and they both returned and met the warriors and shared a meal before returning to Botany Bay and their ships.

I agree with Councillor Mahoney that an historic marker should be raised to commemorate this pre settlement meeting, but bronze statues depicting Bidjigal men and Captains Phillip and Gidley King meeting in maybe in Heinrich Reserve which has a well worn bush track leading through picturesque views of the bay much like it was in 1788.